Burqa-clad Taliban Storm Pakistan Police Station

Taliban suicide bombers dressed in burqas stormed a Pakistani police station on Monday, sparking gunbattles in the northwestern town of Bannu near the militant stronghold of North Waziristan, officials said.

The militants threw hand grenades and opened fire on the building used by police intelligence, senior police official Nisar Ahmed told AFP.

Three policemen were wounded, but an officer who was initially reported dead is still alive and in a coma, Ahmed added.

Police vehicles were destroyed and the building also damaged, he said.

The army’s quick reaction unit was called in to assist police, military officials said.

A senior Army official confirmed the police account of the attack.

Police had earlier said up to five militants attacked the building, where the attack forced a curfew in the city, 150 miles (240 kilometres) southwest from the capital Islamabad.

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed responsibility in a telephone call to AFP. The group has waged an insurgency in the northwest that has killed thousands of people since July 2007.

Bannu lies close to Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal district of North Waziristan, the most infamous militant bastion on the Afghan border that US officials say is used a launchpad for attacks in Afghanistan.